An experimental study on seismic behaviour of viscoelastically damped structures

The seismic behaviour of structures with added viscoelastic dampers is studied experimentally. Experiments were conducted using a model structure simulating firstly a single-degree-of-freedom structure and second a three-degree-of freedom structure. The degree of reduction in relative displacements and absolute accelerations is used as a measure of effectiveness of added viscoelastic dampers. Temperature dependency of the damper is carefully examined together with the problem of damper placement. Experimental results show that significant improvement of structural performance under seismic conditions can be realized with addition of viscoelastic dampers. It is shown that damper effectiveness is strongly dependent upon environmental temperature. The importance of damper positioning within the structure is also stressed.